Milopapa

I can actually relate to this. It's fantastic to fly over the traffic and the sprawl of buildings with a Huey but I think the amount of work that went into this could have been put to better use. The opportunities here are very limited - it's a desert with a casino city, for crying out loud. And also, what possible military scenario can you imagine in Vegas - apart from Red Flag, obviously. If this is just a showcase for engine capabilities, fine. But if we need to wait for years (god forbid another decade) for another, REAL map, then it's a failure. Why not work on scenery that would enable us to re-act a real-life (past or potential) conflict such as Vietnam or Iraq and would add some much needed flavor? To be honest, some of the ED (and affiliates) decisions are beyond comprehension to me... like adding a bunch of trainer jets before implementing something like the much awaited Hornet? A Little Bird or Cobra for helis? Last time I checked it was still called Digital Combat Simulator. It's like they didn't want to grow their user base by adding something widely recognizable that could appeal to the masses.

LOL, I was exactly the same way - I just had to see if I can pass the racing cars :) Had a lot of fun doing the laps with the Huey.

What the heck is this?

You need a voltage booster for strong lights OK, so things were not as rosy as I thought. What other similar mods failed to mention is that the voltage provided by a LiPo battery is not enough for this setup to work reliably. I found that out the hard way - as soon as the voltage dropped below 4V, the lights would dim and the TrackIR image would start to flicker... moving closer to the camera and increasing the light filtering threshold would help (for a while), but it wasn't what I could call a working solution. Here's a little crash course on LiPo batteries and LED circuits for those of you interested: The ultimate solution was to use a voltage booster, which would not only boost the input voltage but also regulate it at a steady 5.2V. The one I used from Adafruit works in any LiPo to USB environment and fit perfectly into the earcup (just below the PCB). After connecting this between the power source and the clip's input lines, it worked like a charm. Strong, steady lights which remain operational throughout the entire discharge cycle of the battery - which incidentially is now 3 times as much since I upgraded the battery :)

Could be... I can only speculate based on Cougar reviews. They are supposed to have longer throws than FLCS hats which alone would make me happy (if I can get them to work). Source: http://cougar.flyfoxy.com/features.php

Sure - last I heard from Thrustmaster support, they're scheduled to arrive this Friday (Nov 27), so hopefully I can take a detailed look at them this weekend. I have high expectations due to their supposedly metal nature :) Although CH has repeatedly proven that you can do nice things with plastic.

Well, the left side is pretty cramped with the electronics... I'll open up the other half and see how much wiggle room I have there. Offtopic: My biggest worry about this headset is not the capacity but that it's prone to radio interference that I could not so far identify. I rarely hear it but my buddies complain about it all the time - apparently it also affects the microphone input. I tried moving the dongle, disabling wifi on my router - no joy. Strange thing is, no-one else with this headset seems to have this problem - must be something unique in my home.

OMG - that is creepy :) See my post just below yours...

You got me thinking there - as I'm into flying RC helicopters, I know a bit about LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries and now that I know how to open the headset :), I might just go and upgrade the original battery with something more powerful. Someone already opened a similar model and found that the battery is a single-cell 3.7V LiPo with 900mAh capacity. I'll do some research and see if I can find something more juicy that is not too much heavier (the trackclip on the other side should compensate for a little more weight and still keep it balanced).

That is a really good question - and I don't know, to be honest. I haven't used it long enough to be able to tell. I don't even know how long the headset lasts - never measured it. I'd estimate it to have at least 8 hours of charge. I got into the habit of charging the headset frequently (almost daily) to make sure it doesn't start giving out in the middle of a gaming session. I'll try to make some measurements - run it through the night or something.

I finally mustered enough courage and determination to convert my TrackIR to wireless - here to show how I did it. TL:DR - I cut and soldered the USB cable of the TrackClip Pro unit to the internal battery pack of my wireless headset. Background: I have a wireless headset, so the extra cable needed for the TrackClip Pro has become a nuisance and a trip hazard. Since the cable is only needed for the +5V that the USB port can provide, I started looking for alternative power supply to drive the clip. I looked at various solutions (extra Li-ion battery strapped to the headset) but I didn't like the idea of having to charge the clip separately, plus not knowing how that battery's doing in terms of remaining charge. My headset has a standard micro-USB port for charging and it starts giving warning beeps when the battery is becoming low, so I decided I would use its internal battery to power the clip - with a bit if hacking and soldering :) Result: no cables at all coming to my head headset functionality completely intact switch on TrackClip unit to minimize battery usage cable flexes so headband can be adjusted freely headset warns me when battery's low charging headset also charges the TrackIR clip Materials needed: Wireless headset TrackClip Pro (somewhat broken already so I could sacrifice it without too much to worry about) inline DC switch (I salvaged it from one of those annoying plastic dolls that cries or laughs when you press on its tummy - my daughter basically forgot about this so no harm done) Total cost: $0 Solution steps: Cable routing and soldering: 1. removed the cushion from the left speaker cup to reveal screws and began disassembly 2. unscrewed 3 layers of components (including speakers) 3. found main PCB 4. measured various points with a multimeter to find +5V or similar - came to the conclusion that I need to use the battery output (4.2V) directly as none of the others were close enough (closest was 3.9V). This also meant I needed a switch to shut off the infra LEDs when not user, otherwise they'd be always on, even when the headset is switched off - and would drain the battery quickly. 5. drilled a hole to allow the USB/power cable to go into the speaker cup 6. inserted cable 7. removed cable, drilled an even bigger hole to enable tight assembly 8. fought hard to insert cable through the rotating axle alongside the original cabling 9. soldered cable to battery endpoints on the PCB 10. played with routing the cables for a while, decided the remove outer cable covering to save some space 11. re-assembled whole earcup only to find while testing that one of the speaker signal cables snapped from the PCB (no sound from left side) so I had to take it apart and re-do that soldering Adding the switch: 1. removed switch from the doll 2. found the right place it could go on the clip unit 3. cut, sawed, hacked, chipped and cursed for an hour to remove the appropriate amount of plastic to create a slot for the switch 4. inserted switch into the slot (needed some padding to make it tight) 5. cut and re-soldered red wire to the backside of the switch 6. tested the switch 7. rejoiced immensely to find it working 8. went to bed at 4am Attaching some photos: Removing the layers: The main PCB (connection points on the backside) Soldering completed (this was taken before I removed the rubber cover of the extra cable to make some space): Showing the new hole (I first drilled it too close to the joint, couldn't fit it back together with the cable inside): And here's the new switch:

Uhm... maybe i'm missing something but where's the missions? Can't see any attachments in the first post.

Buttons I know, but getting a CH Fighterstick would have cost me around $100 more. Also, I have contacted Thrustmaster support and they agreed to send me a full set of spare hat assemblies from the Cougar for €32. They are on their way, curious to see if I can make them work with the FLCS. Those should be metal vs plastic. More weight :( but hopefully better action. I don't quite get this (don't speak Russian, google translate couldn't really manage it) - why the bearings? Also, pots are fine for me - great resolution, don't seem to be worn yet. There is a slight mechanical deadzone but nothing to worry about.

Thank you! All told, it must have been around 20-30 hours of actual work, not counting the research. Every hour worth it! Flying with this setup (plus the Crosswind rudders) feels amazingly real. The only thing that could make it more complete is a VR headset :) Hopefully next year.

Correct, it's all plastic - that was one of the reasons I chose it. Even like this, the stick got pretty heavy with the grip on top of the extension. I'm sure using a full-metal grip would further diminish the FFB effects. You'd probably need the dual motor setup, the resistor mod and a counterweight to have similar effects. As for the wiring, I forgot to include this image: Brown - VCC / +5V Green - GND Yellow - MISO / PB3 Red - SS / PB0 Orange - SCLK / PB1 It's pretty simple as all the button handling is done by the F-16 chips, and it outputs all data on a 5-wire cable strip. This is what you need to solder to the Teensy board.

3. Grip modification Here is the original F-16 joystick from Thrustmaster: This goes for $30-40 on ebay – no use in newer PCs as it still uses a gameport connection. For me, that doesn’t matter, I just needed the grip with the buttons. Grip replacement I started out by disassembling the joystick and then the grip itself. Surprise: as opposed to the CH Fighterstick, the handle is chock full of wires and a control PCB so I had trouble finding a home for the Teensy. As the inside of the grip is extremely busy, it took a long time to figure out where to put the Teensy... or more precisely, the Teensy + the mini USB cable going through the handle. In the end, I put it on top of the exisiting PCB but I had to reroute some of the existing wires to different parts of the grip. Soldering was also a bitch... This was probably the most difficult part of the whole project. The two-stage trigger was worn down, I ended up replacing the hard foam for the second stage as a large part of it was missing. This is how the grip looks like. I put a screw perpendicular to the shaft to try and keep it from rotating... it’s not perfect but it’ll do for now. This is how the extra USB cable is routed in the base. For the outlet, I simply enlarged the existing one to accommodate an extra cable. It's tight but it works. Programming the Teensy: Getting the Teensy to work in Windows was relatively easy (apart from a bug). I need the Arduino IDE (only version 1.6.5 works with Teensy) and the Teensyduino extension. Then I pasted in this code (credit: NonWonderDog): I had to choose "Serial+Keyboard+Mouse+Joystick" under Tools > USB Type as the one without the Serial wouldn't show any buttons or axis in joy.cpl - this looks like a Windows bug. I also chose 1MHz speed as some reported issues with faster speeds - didn't bother to test. Uploading the code was a simple matter and the joystick shows up in Game controllers right away. All buttons work (even if some require extensive force due to the age)! So here is what it looks like at the moment: I limited the stick throw slightly as it was getting a bit excessive. I used a plastic ring cut from a windshield cleaner bottle – pretty much anything that’s a hard (non-sticking) plastic ring would do. I don't have pictures about that yet, can upload later if anyone's interested. Overall - I spent some time testing this setup in Il2 Bos, Rise of Flight and DCS:Huey and flying with the extended stick is AWESOME. Summary of impressions: great immersion, controls feel much more natural center-mounted precise control of pitch and roll - crucial for heli but really useful for prop planes too abundancy of buttons (even if they are a bit worn) very slight throbbing/vibrations can be felt occasionally, might be due to the increased current to the motors - insignificant overall the grip reduced the force feedback further but it's still pretty good - motor boost is a must have with an extension like this two-stage trigger is NICE - I programmed guns to TG1 (leading) and cannons to TG2 (killing) Please let me know if there is any additional detail you'd be interested to hear more about.

2. Chair modification Here's where I started with the chair. Cutting the sitting materials out, preserving the leather: The result: Since I haven't found anything that would work as the joystick holder, I decided to make one myself. Here is what it looks like: I later painted it black to make it blend in some more (don’t forget, this is in a living room).

1. MS FFB2 base modifications So here is the first step, removing the grip and trying on the carbon extension. I had to remove the buttom plate to get access to the wiring - I wanted to keep the original grip intact and the only way to do that is to pull it through the shaft. The central 3 screws scared me first - I though they were stripped as a regular philips head wouldn't catch them. Fortunately I found this guide which assured me these were normal heads and all I needed was to experiement with different screwdrivers till I found a fitting one. Basically the grooves are a lot deeper that in a regular phillips head - I eventually just used a trusted old flathead. You can see the cable strip going into the shaft on the image above - that's the one carrying the signals of the grip buttons, the twist rudder and the IR sensor. Next I tried the tube on – it fits really nice and tight: It's a bit long as my raw material is 50cm long - I cut it to a comfortable size after a few tests (currently 20cm). During the disassembly process I came unto an interesting find. The twist rudder's centering force is achieved through a U-shaped spring. By bending and twisting it a little (well, I'm saying little but it took me more than half an hour) I could lessen the centering force which previously made it very difficult to apply small movements in the rudder. Once happy with the result, I took out the spring from this stick (I won't be needing it) and installed it in my backup joystick (which I'll be keeping as a regular MS FFB2 in case I mess up the extension ). It made a huge difference in my ability to use the twist rudder and I wholeheartedly recommend everyone using the twist rudder in this joystick to give it a try. I did some preliminary tests and while the centering forces seemed okay, the shaking effect was reduced significantly. So next step was to increase motor power – as described in this thread. I used these SMD resistors (RC1206 1R 1Ohm 1/4W 1%): I couldn't believe my eyes when I open the box, they are tiny little f*ckers! Photos did them no justice - they are really small! I was already scared shitless about the soldering (for me soldering is a necessity not a skill), but I did some practice runs on an old HDDs circuitry and managed to figure out the right technique. This video also helped a lot: In the end, the actual soldering took maybe 10 minutes. Here's what the result looks like: Zooming in: Result: The force feedback effects are back in their glorious strength! I actually had to reduce the centering effect from 100% to about 70% in Rise of Flight, same as with the unmodified stick. Shaking is now clearly noticable, not to mention the bumping on the ground effect (that was always crazy strong anyway). This mod makes a world of a difference to the extension, makes it feel exactly like the original (without a grip at least). I'm not sure what the longevity effect is but if it last for at least 2 years, I'll be a happy man. There is some noticable heating around the power conversion area (lots of capacitor there) – I might add a fan in the long run.

I’ve started a joystick modding project and since I did a lot of research and got a lot of inspiration from other posts around the net, I thought I’d also post my updates on various flight sim forums (the original thread is here). My goal: extend the MS FFB2 so I could enjoy the enhanced precision provided by a longer throw. Along the way, I also found that this is a good opportunity to replace the grip with something that has more buttons. Background: I needed something that could be easily removed as I have two small kids who can’t be expected to show proper respect to Daddy’s flying equipment – which (for now) lives in the living room until I can get my own room (next year’s project). I’m already using VESA mounts for the CH Throttle which I routinely install and remove on the arms of the chair (with the help of some 3M velcro). I won’t be needing the built-in twist rudder as I’m now using my namesake’s excellent Crosswind rudder. I found these posts to be really inspiring: http://forums.eagle....86&postcount=51 http://forum.il2stur...k-2/#entry46228 http://forums.eagle....ad.php?t=125281 Here are the steps I performed so far: Preparing MS FFB2 base remove original grip (incl cabling and twist rudder) add carbon tube extension (20cm) create hole in base for extra cabling remove throttle control for tighter fit increase current to FFB motors to compensate for longer leverage by adding resistors to one of the base PCBs [*]Seat modification cut away parts of my office chair’s seat to allow enough movement for stick between my legs install tray to hold joystick base below leg level [*]Grip replacement strip down Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS joystick for grip only install Teensy board, connect to grip wiring add mini-USB cable connected to Teensy, lead through the shaft extension and out in the base program board so it shows up as a joystick device in Windows limit stick throw by adding an outer ring the bottom of the shaft Materials needed: Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 cost 85EUR ($90) Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS joystick (gameport) cost $36 Teensy 2.0 board cost $20 8 x SMD resistors (RC1206 1R 1Ohm 1/4W 1%) for motor boost (cost $10) Mini-B USB cable, 3m (cost $3) Carbon tube (internal diameter 14mm, outer diameter 16mm) (cost $12) Tray: wooden shelf, screws, brackets, paint (from local brick and mortar shop, cost $40) My existing office chair (optional: I used a powered USB hub on the side of my table for cable management purposes) Total cost of materials (MSFFB2 joystick included): $211 In the consecutive posts I'll detail each of the stages.